Tesla Motors will unveil its Gigafactory to its customers on Friday at a grand opening. But on Tuesday, the electric car company allowed the media to go behind closed doors at the facility.
On the inside, giant robot arms could be seen assembling lithium ion battery packs. On the outside, Tesla was working as its own contractor to accelerate the Gigafactory's timeline.Â
Elon Musk, CEO for Tesla Motors said, "What you're seeing is only 14 percent of what it ultimately will be. And it's quite quite huge."
Located at the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park, the Gigafactory will be about 5.8 million square feet by completion in 2020. That would be about 107 football fields in length. The current structure right now is only 800,000 square feet.Â
The factory is being built in phases to minimize production delays.
Musk adds, "The factory itself is the machine that builds the machine."
The goal is to have the Gigafactory operational before the launch of the Model 3 sedan next year. By 2018, Tesla plans to build 500,000 of those vehicles at their California facility.
JB Straubel, the Chief Technical Officer for Tesla said, "We also have had to pull ahead obviously the Gigafactory schedule to supply the cells and battery packs. "
Right now Panasonic is importing battery cells from Japan. By the end of this year, it will be making the product on site for Tesla workers to assemble.
Musk said the factory could easily employ thousands of more people in the next three to four years.
"I would expect to see probably closer to 10,000 people here over time," said Musk.
On Friday, select Tesla car owners will get a similar tour of the facility.
